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MELBOURNE - The prizefighters of tennis punched their way out of trouble at the Australian Open tennis championships yesterday, but British hope Andy Murray was felled by a fierce right hand at Melbourne Park.
Serena Williams and Justine Henin fought off nerves and tricky conditions while Jelena Jankovic
and Amelie Mauresmo clawed back from behind in first-round matches.
Murray, though, was helpless against French enigma Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The British ninth seed, fancied as an outsider for the title, weathered withering blows in the first set, his legs wobbled in the second and, after a gutsy fightback, was sent to the canvas in the fourth, beaten 7-5 6-4 0-6 7-6.
"Didn't start off great," was the 20-year-old Scot's verdict. "He dictated a lot of points early in the match. I made a few mistakes there I shouldn't have made."
Sixth seed Andy Roddick showed Murray how it should be done with a thumping 6-3 6-4 7-5 win over Lukas Dlouhy but men's 11th seed Tommy Robredo belonged in the strugglers' camp, needing four hours to down Germany's Mischa Zverev 4-6 2-6 7-6 6-4 7-5.
The scorelines for Henin and Williams were emphatic but third-seeded Serb Jankovic endured an almighty ordeal before seeing off Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek.
Against Jankovic, three match points came and went for 17-year-old Paszek, who served for victory five times in a third set which included 15 breaks.
Experience told ultimately, however, with Jankovic winning 2-6 6-2 12-10 in three hours 10 minutes.
"I was praying actually," Jankovic told reporters.
"Please, God, help me get out of the situation. And I didn't want to go home, that was what was driving me, what was pushing me to go forward."
Serena needed just an hour to dispatch Australian wildcard Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3 6-3.
"I think everyone could probably tell I was a little scratchy," the defending champion smiled.
"But it's the first round. I think I was a wee bit nervous out there."
Top seed Henin also made a winning return to Melbourne Park but she did not have it all her own way against Japan's Aiko Nakamura.
The world number one missed last year's Australian Open as she was going through a divorce but it was business as usual on the opening day of the 2008 event with a 6-2 6-2 victory.
Henin failed with almost half her first serves, hit 26 unforced errors and will want to tighten her game up against Russia's Olga Poutchkova in the second round.
"Always the first round is not my favourite one, so I'm glad it's behind me now," Henin said.
"A grand slam, it's tough and it's long, and you need to be consistent, at your best all the time, so that's not very easy."
Former world number one Lindsay Davenport, in great form since returning to tennis last year following the birth of her first child, also struggled against Sara Errani before winning 6-2 3-6 7-5.
The American was not too upset about her performance, though, the victory making her the all-time career prize winning leader for women's sports with $21,897,501, passing Steffi Graf's 10-year record.
TODAY'S PREVIEW
Roger Federer will take centre stage at the Australian Open tennis championships today when he begins the defence of his title under the lights at Melbourne Park.
The Swiss world No 1 and top seed, chasing his 13th grand slam crown, completes the night session on Rod Laver Arena against Argentine Diego Hartfield, the world No 107.
A stomach virus disrupted Federer's preparations for the first grand slam event of the year, but the top seed is confident he will cope at the start of his bid for a third successive Australian Open title.
"I'm very much used to it, not playing for four weeks or six weeks and then coming in and playing a big tournament, so for me it's not much of a change," Federer said.
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova are also in action on day two.
Eighth seed Williams takes on Yan Zi of China, while Kuznetsova plays former Australian Open semi-finalist Nathalie Dechy of France.
On the men's side, third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia kicks off the action on Rod Laver Arena with a first-round match against German Benjamin Becker.
Former champion Marat Safin, Australian Lleyton Hewitt and women's sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze are other big names in action.
- REUTERS